Shiv Sena MPs to attend PM's high tea

Political circles are agog with speculation that PM Narendra Modi and Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray may meet when the former visits Mumbai on Saturday for the inauguration of a private hospital or at New Delhi on Sunday when the PM is hosting a dinner for NDA allies.

Political circles are agog with speculation that PM Narendra Modi and Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray may meet when the former visits Mumbai on Saturday for the inauguration of a private hospital or at New Delhi on Sunday when the PM is hosting a dinner for NDA allies.

However, a Sena leader told PTI that Uddhav will not be attending the dinner on Sunday.

“The event that the PM is hosting is only for the MPs of NDA partners. When Uddhavji is not an MP, where is the question of him being invited? This is not even a question worth asking,” a senior Sena leader told PTI on the condition of anonymity.

Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray is greeted at a meeting with newly elected party MLAs at Sena Bhavan in Mumbai. (PTI Photo)

Observers are hoping for a breakthrough on government formation as Sena representatives are expected to officially meet senior BJP leader Rajnath Singh along with state representative JP Nadda in Mumbai.

For now, the Sena is placing its hopes for a fair deal on the talks initiated on Tuesday between senior Sena leaders Anil Desai and Subhash Desai with Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan and BJP MLC Chandrakant Patil.

After bagging 63 seats, a reluctant Sena offered the BJP its support to form the government.

“We have been talking on the lines of getting one-third of the ministries and even the position of the deputy chief minister,” a senior Sena leader said.

For now it looks that the BJP is not too keen to have a big cabinet and would also like to keep plum portfolios like home, finance, urban development, revenue and PWD with them.

This might create a problem in the berth sharing talks between the two.